Build and grow your financial independence with confidence

Key Takeaways:

• When it comes to retirement planning, the most important thing you can do is start saving for retirement.
• It’s never too late - the right time to start is now.
• With over 160 years of experience, Equitable can help educators build their retirement saving for a stronger financial future.*
• An Equitable Financial 403(b) retirement plan is a smart way to solidify your financial future.

At this stage of your career, it may feel like your finances are being pulled in three different directions: the past, the present and the future. 

Thanks to student loans, your budget may still be tethered to your past. Your finances are likely stretched pretty thin in the present as you start a family, buy a house and establish roots in your community. Then there’s the other direction we tend to forget: the future, which includes saving for retirement. 

If you feel like you’re not ready to start saving, you aren’t alone. Nearly half of Americans haven’t started and feel it’s now too late to establish a retirement savings. No matter where you are in your financial journey, there’s still time to build for a solid financial future. 

Establishing a plan for your financial future is important, regardless of when you start. Whether you’re five years into your career or a 25-year veteran, there’s no time like the present to put a plan in motion to gain financial independence.

Retirement savings: It all adds up

The first step of retirement planning should be reaching out to a financial professional to discuss what you want for your retirement. Not necessarily how much money you want or need to save, but what you want to do with it. You can see that your retirement goals are achievable when you start by talking with someone who can help. By adding a 403(b) plan, a plan available to educators, you can immediately start growing your retirement assets in addition to what you may receive if you have a pension, or Social Security. And that additional income can really go a long way in giving you the financial independence you’re looking for in the future. 

Starting small at any age has benefits. Let’s look at an example of a teacher who starts a retirement savings plan later in their career:¹

By putting away $4,000 a year (or about $77 a week pretax), a 37-year-old teacher can save nearly a quarter million dollars by age 62. When you consider the median total household retirement savings across all Americans is approximately $93,000, you can already be well ahead of the curve.

As you can see, every little bit contributed to your retirement savings counts and adds up. It can still be well worth your time and investment to enhance your savings, especially when 22% of Americans have less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and 15% have no retirement savings whatsoever.

Financial independence is possible

Whether you know what you want to do when you retire or even haven’t started thinking about it, now is the perfect time to get started on a financial plan. 

Visualize where you want to be and what you want to do with your time. As you think about your future and what you want, make your financial plan to create that possibility. As you know from your teaching career, creating a plan makes the possibilities clearer and more attainable. You don’t have to do this on your own, as there are financial professionals who understand what you’re going through and who can help you get to where you want to be. It doesn’t matter at what point in your career you make the plan, as long as you make it. Not only can you see a difference now, but you can also feel the difference when you retire.

Your financial independence starts today

Equitable has over 160 years of experience helping people build their financial futures and prepare for all of life’s opportunities from the moment they start saving until the day they retire.*

Finding the right financial professional can give you the confidence to face your financial future with courage, strength and wisdom. They can also help create a smart plan for tomorrow that considers your needs and lifestyle today. 

Learn more about how Equitable Advisors Financial Professionals can help educators like you plan and prepare your financial life for both now and in the future.

 *Products funding group retirement plans are issued by Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company (Equitable Financial) NY, NY.  Equitable Financial was founded in 1859 and is affiliated with Equitable Advisors, LLC.  

¹ Assumes a hypothetical 6% annual potential rate of return. The 6% hypothetical rate of return is not based on the performance of actual investments or products. Actual rates of return will vary over time, particularly for long-term investments. Investments offering the potential for higher rates of return also involve a higher degree of risk. Actual results will vary. The amounts used in this hypothetical example do not take taxes or product-related charges into account.

Disclosures:

This informational and educational article does not offer or constitute and should not be relied upon as investment or financial advice, and the advice of your own such professionals will prevail over any information provided in this article. Equitable Advisors, LLC and its associates and affiliates do not provide tax, accounting or legal advice or services.

Equitable is the brand name of the retirement and protection subsidiaries of Equitable Holdings, Inc., including Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company (Equitable Financial) (NY, NY), Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company of America (Equitable America), an AZ stock company, and Equitable Distributors, LLC. Equitable Advisors is the brand name of Equitable Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC) (Equitable Financial Advisors in MI and TN).